Einstein Brothers has become a refuge between my gauntlet of shifts for Go Bloom. It's a great place to work on documentation and paperwork (or to read a book, if I'm honest), and their coffee is surprisingly decent. Their Fireside Dark Roast is my current go-to. Today I have a few more minutes than usual between a shift with a client and a meeting, so I'm taking the opportunity to throw down a few 'updates'. Such posts have become a rarity.
We begin with my oldest daughters. Chloe's doing good in school, though she's been struggling with procrastination and forgetting to turn stuff in. We're constantly on her about that. That, and her attitude. I'm told it's common for fresh teenagers, but she's been developing quite the attitude. Don't get me wrong, she's a sweet girl, and I love her to death, but sometimes I'm jaw-dropped by things she says - and when we discipline her, it's tear-jerk city. We're dreading Zoey getting to this stage, but she's learning from Chloe and beginning to adopt a bit of an attitude herself. I had the joy of getting to work with Chloe on a school project on the Triassic Period; I got a bit more into it than her, hence the last two months' flurry of Mesozoic posts. She's currently working on a project revolving around the American Revolution; I think she's dreaded my lectures about Bunker Hill. She's had some trouble in school with bullies and has played with the idea of being home-schooled. Ash is pretty much all for it, and I don't think it's an awful idea, especially with the maddening liberalism that's taking hold of public education. Though I'm far more liberal than a lot of conservatives, there's a bit of the current wave of liberalism that's just 'too much.' Despite the bullying at school, Chloe's made several good - and healthy - friendships with Christians at school, and she's got a league of friends in the church youth group to balance out the negativity.
As for Zoey, she's excelling in school, far more than we hoped. It isn't that we thought she'd do bad or that we have a low opinion of her; rather, she has ADHD and we feared a learning disability. Ash had a hell of a time in school, starting in first grade and continuing through college. Zoey, however, seems to be following a different path. She's a whiz at math and loves reading. She reads regularly to Naomi, which Naomi adores.
Now getting to Naomi. A few weeks ago she underwent a battery of allergy tests at Children's, and the allergist believes she likely has a gluten allergy. Both times she'd had gluten - first in whole wheat cereal and again when we fed her some hummus, not realizing the tahini sauce had gluten - she broke out in hives, swelled up, and felt awful. We've been on edge for the past six months because we didn't have any epipens; they're expensive, and insurance refused to cover it. But God is good, and He provides, and now we have three sets of epipens free-of-charge (including a special one for infants that's six thousand dollars per package). We can definitely breathe easier! Because of her likely allergy, we're slowly transitioning to being a gluten-free household. We aim to have the transition complete by the time she's regularly eating solids. It's been difficult, at times (I'm an avid bread-lover), but it's definitely been a healthier lifestyle - though chicken, rice, and vegetables can get old day after day. Ash is experimenting with different recipes, and we've found some pretty good ones.
Now let me be honest with you: I'm convinced the worst part about adulthood is scheduling dentist appointments and then forcing yourself to show up to them. I went to the dentist for the first time in nearly fifteen years, and surprisingly the verdict was pretty good. My teeth and gums are in great shape. The only exceptions are (a) a periodontal abscess from a single cavity and (b) a cracked back molar. The first is just random sore luck; the second is due to me biting down on a damned chicken bone back in 2017. Following that painful bite-down, I had occasional pain in the tooth, and then back in June half of the tooth just fell right out like it didn't have a care in the world. The dentist prescribed me antiobiotics for the infection (they made me feel sick, but they knocked the infection right out), and in January I have to have a root canal for the periodontal abscess. They're going to try to save my back molar if they can; if they can't, they're just going to extract it. At least it isn't a front tooth that'll be visible when I smile.
For the past several weeks I've been studying the history of the Divided Kingdom in the Old Testament. It's my favorite period of Old Testament history, filled with lots of awesome stories. It reads like a Game of Thrones in ancient Israel. Ancient history is one of my favorite periods of history, so a proper study of the Old Testament involves a proper study of ancient empires: Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, and a panoply of others. I'm putting together essays on all the kings of Israel and Judah; if they're decent enough (and if I keep at it) I'll put them up on here next year.
Well, the clock is running out and I have an appointment to get to.
But just for shits and giggles, here's a GIF of Naomi head-butting the wall:
